Prince Shembo, Bennett Jackson and TJ Jones were all selected on the third day of the NFL Draft, making that eight former Notre Dame players selected in the 2014 draft. That’s the highest total in 20 years, when Lou Holtz’s squad produced 10 selections. Notre Dame’s eight selections were second to only LSU and matched Alabama’s.

Shembo was the first player to come off the board on the draft’s third day, selected in the fourth round with the 139th pick by the Atlanta Falcons. While Shembo spent much of the offseason circuit showcasing his versatility, the Falcons hope he can go back to what put him on the map originally at Notre Dame, rushing the passer.

In what might be a bit of a surprise, Jackson came off the board next. Selected in the sixth round with the 187th overall pick, the New York Giants took a shot on the Irish captain, who had a subpar senior season but still impressed the Giants with both his tangible and intangible traits.

“We think he’s on the come, he has some intangibles that we like, height, weight speed, we think we can hit on a guy like this who comes in,” Giants GM Jerry Reese said. “He’s the guy who’s a leader, can play on all your special teams while he’s still developing into a corner.”

Jackson is heading home, growing up in nearby Hazlet, New Jersey. Interestingly, former Notre Dame personnel man Tim McDonnell is now with the Giants as a scout, so he likely had some input in Jackson’s scouting report.

Last off the board for the Irish was wide receiver and team captain TJ Jones. Selected by the Lions just two picks after Jackson, Jones will join Golden Tate in Detroit’s receiving corps, with an eye on the third receiver job behind All-Pro Calvin Johnson.

“Very impressed by him,” Lions GM Martin Mayhew said about Jones. “Clutch guy. Play maker for (Notre Dame). Converted a lot of third downs and he was a guy they went to in the red area. I like him as a slot guy, running inside getting separation. I thought he had really good hands and really crisp routes.”

Jones probably stayed on the draft board longer than most expected, but is heading to a place that could be very good for him. He’ll have a familiar friend at the position in Tate and will have the opportunity to compete, all you can ask for as a sixth round pick.

The rest of Notre Dame’s draft-eligible prospects signed free agent contracts. George Atkinson signed with the Oakland Raiders, the team where his father played and currently works on the radio broadcast team. Carlo Calabrese signed with the Cleveland Browns. Dan Fox heads to New York, joining Jackson with the Giants. Tommy Rees signed with the Washington Redskins and Kona Schwenke signed with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Notre Dame had nine players at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. To a man, they all left town improving their proverbial draft stock. We’ve already touched on what the nine-man Irish contingency meant to the football program.

Analysis: Irish fans probably expected Atkinson’s elite track speed to produce an every better number than 4.48, but Atkinson did a very nice job in Indianapolis. He also talked candidly about the late-season suspension that ended his career watching his teammates play Rutgers.

“It was during team meal and I was on the phone and Coach [Brian] Kelly walked up to me and told me to get off the phone,” Atkinson said. “For some stupid reason I decided not to get off right away, and it led to the suspension.

“I would’ve liked to have approached the situation towards the end of my career there, especially my junior year, with both carries and the coaching staff [with a] more mature mindset.”

Atkinson also talked about the health of his mother playing a factor in jumping to the NFL now. He’s the type of elite athlete that one team will look at as a special teams factor, and this performance might help his status as a late-round pick.

Analysis: Jackson ran a 4.51 forty, a really impressive number, even though we all knew he ran track at Notre Dame. His 38-inch vertical leap and 128-inch broad jump were also explosive as well, along with his 20-yard shuttle time.

The tape wasn’t always kind to Jackson and his decreased physicality this season had many thinking he was still playing with a bum shoulder. But Jackson did enough to put himself in that mid-to-late round discussion among cornerbacks.

Analysis: When Jones ran an unofficial 4.40 in his first attempt of the forty, even NFL Network’s Mike Mayock was shocked. While the number rounded up a bit officially, that’s the type of speed Jones needed to display to scouts, who likely were questioning his ability to get behind a defense.

Analysis: Perhaps the only thing that hurt Martin in Indianapolis was the performance of some other elite tackles, with Auburn’s Greg Robinson and Michigan’s Taylor Lewan showing elite measurables.

Of course, everybody knew Martin wouldn’t be a true stud in shorts and a t-shirt and his performance at the Senior Bowl did more to help than the combine did to hurt. There’s still likely a team that’s going to take Martin in the last 10 picks of the first round.

Analysis: Niklas didn’t run the forty, but did do everything else. He was one of the top performers at tight end and also at the 60 yard shuttle for his position group.

Niklas has a few months to work on getting a time in the 4.6 range before the draft in May. The longer teams get to look at him the better, as his athleticism will be intoxicating for teams thinking they might have found another Rob Gronkowski.

Analysis: Nix reached the weight many wanted him to be at, stating that he lost over 20 pounds from the end of the season to the draft. He had limited participation, not bench pressing or doing either shuttle run as he still comes back from meniscus surgery.

Still, Nix was a hit at the combine, and certainly didn’t hurt his chances of being the first defensive tackle off the draft board, even with Aaron Donald running a ridiculous 4.68 at 285 pounds.

Analysis: Shembo’s mostly earning headlines for his acknowledgment of his connection to the Seeberg allegations. But he did a nice job athletically as well, putting up numbers that top to bottom were better than Manti Te’o last year.

Shembo is on the short side, with his 6-foot-1 an inch shorter than he was listed on the UND.com roster. But he’s got some explosiveness as well, with a 38.5-inch vertical leap pretty astounding.

Stephon Tuitt
6’5″, 304 pounds

Bench Press: 31 reps

Analysis: Tuitt’s combine was cut short when a small foot fracture turned up on his medical exam. That kept him from showing off the slender physique he brought with him to Indianapolis.

The time table for an injury like Tuitt’s is six to eight weeks, making a Pro Day workout possible, but not necessarily the smartest decision. Still, showing up at 304 was crucial for Tuitt, and the 31 reps on the bench press give you an idea of his impressive strength.

Chris Watt
6’3″, 310 pounds

Bench Press: 29 reps

Analysis: Watt came to the combine still recovering from a knee injury suffered late in the season. He didn’t do himself any harm at the combine, measuring in as expected and putting up impressive numbers on the bench press.

(A 5.50 forty time credited to Watt was previously listed on NFL.com’s Combine results page, but no longer exists.)

He’ll have a few months to continue to get healthy and game tape will likely make sure he’s selected in the draft’s middle-to-late rounds.

Yesterday, Mike Mayock hosted a conference call with reporters to discuss NFL Draft prospects. The NFL Network draft analyst, who also calls Notre Dame football games with Dan Hicks, held a marathon conference call, a multi-hour event that showcased Mayock’s ridiculous knowledge base.

Throughout the call, Mayock talked about various Notre Dame players that will be taking part in the NFL Scouting combine. Here’s a smattering of what he said.

On Bennett Jackson:

“I think Bennett Jackson is a corner with some length. He’s got to get stronger. He’s got some pretty good movement skills but he’s not an elite speed guy, so he has to use his length to compete on the outside and I think he’s probably going to be mid to late draftable, somewhere in that fifth round or so.”

On the Arizona Cardinals targeting Zack Martin in the first round:

“I think he can play tackle, but the beauty in this kid is he can play all five positions in the NFL and some teams look at him as a Pro Bowl there for playing at tackle doesn’t make much sense. So I think the first part of that question is, I think Zack Martin is going somewhere in that range, plus or minus 20. If he’s available, do the Cardinals buy into him as a tackle.”

On Troy Niklas continuing Notre Dame’s run at Tight End and what he’ll show at the Combine:

“He’s an interesting guy, first of all, because of his size. You’re talking 6 6 and a half, 265, played outside linebacker, his freshman year, converted to tight end. Only had two years of college football at tight end. The first year he had Tyler Eifert who had most of the attention while he was trying to learn the position. So effectively, you’re looking at one year of production as far as catching the football, so I think what he is, if he commits to becoming a good in line blocker, he could be the best blocking tight end in the NFL in two or three years.

“And if I was him, if I was his father or I was his coach, I would try to impress upon him that he should try to become the best blocker he can. He’ll make a lot of money for a lot of years. Secondly he’s a better receiver than people think. He is not Tyler Eifert, he’s not a 4 5 guy, but a 4 8 kind of guy, he can catch the ball short or intermediate, understands how to use his body to position it.

“So I don’t think he’s getting out of the second round because I think there’s a drop off after him. So I think he’ll be a valuable commodity in the second round. I think he’s in between Kyle Rudolph, I think he’s a better blocker than Kyle, but not as good a receiver as Kyle, if that makes sense.”

On Chris Watt:

“I think Watt is a better football player than people have given him credit for in the past. I think he’s a starting guard or center in the league. He’s smart enough, quick enough, tough enough and has the size for center. I gave him a third-round grade as a guard. I think he’s a starting left guard in the NFL.”

On the draft fates of Nix and Stephon Tuitt:

“Regarding Nix, some teams and general managers really like him. He’s a prototypical nose tackle, big kid. He’s got good short area quickness for a 330 pound guy but he had the knee last year, he flashed but didn’t play at a high level all the time. He’s got to be a little bit lighter. He’s got to play at 330.

“So the question is, can he push the edge a little bit; can he gain an edge and push the pocket, and if you believe in that, then he’s probably a top 20 pick because he’s a player 330 pound nose tackle with some movement skills. If you don’t believe that, you can get some pass rush out of him, he probably isn’t a top 20 pick for your team.

“The Stephon Tuitt kid, there’s opinions everywhere, again. Now, this kid had a groin issue coming off 2012. He was a little bit heavy. He’s probably at this point, 6 6, 330 pounds, he’s probably grown into a five technique which is the defensive end in a 3 4. Doesn’t have as much value as a three technique or a 3 4 outside backer. So without getting real technical, I think Stephon Tuitt, if he went somewhere between 25 and 50, it wouldn’t surprise me.”

After looking like a program that had gotten past the maddening inconsistencies of years gone by, Notre Dame’s 28-21 loss to Pittsburgh awoke all the wrong kinds of echoes on Saturday night. Done in by red zone mishaps and maddening inconsistency, the disappointing loss erased any hope for a BCS bid and ripped at scar tissue that had healed for much of the past two seasons.

On a windy November evening in Pittsburgh, the Irish took a huge step backwards, playing down to their competition, making critical mistakes on both sides of the ball, and forcing Notre Dame into an off week with a horrible taste in their mouth.

“All losses are disappointing losses,” Brian Kelly said after the game. “But that was especially disappointing in the way that we played and coached.”

Let’s take a look at the five things we learned in Pitt’s 28-21 upset of Notre Dame.

After playing steady football for most of the season, two horrible passes by Tommy Rees doomed the Irish.

For most of the season, Tommy Rees has played solid football, putting together stats that sat bizarrely high on national leaderboards for a player so loathed by a fairly vocal sector of Irish fans. But on Saturday night, Rees made two catastrophic fourth quarter mistakes, throwing an end zone interception on 2nd and Goal before floating a pass high over Troy Niklas’ head on his very next passing attempt.

The first pass took points off the board for the Irish. The second all but put them up for Pitt, with Ray Vinopal returning his second straight interception to the Irish 5-yard line.

“My fault. Bad decision. Bad throws,” Rees said after the game. “You’ve got to be smarter than that and you’ve got to get us out of a play. Those are on me.”

The maddening inconsistencies that Rees seemed to have eliminated lately came back at the worst time for the Irish, especially after starting the second half seven of ten, including a perfect strike on an 80-yard touchdown pass to TJ Jones.

Rees’s accuracy was an issue for much of the night, completing just 18 of 38 passes on the night. While he racked up 318 yards and hit on a handful of long completions, Rees missed receivers all night, throwing some balls late and into coverages that the senior has avoided this season.

Lined up inside the Pitt 5-yard line, you could question the decision to roll Rees to his right, turning an already congested area into a half-field read. But Rees has played too much football to loft a pass to the back of the end zone, a mistake he owned up to in a difficult postgame interview session with reporters.

***

A week after starring against Navy, freshman Tarean Folston got lost in the shuffle.

Tarean Folston scorched Navy for 140 yards last week. He disappeared against Pitt, getting just four carries on Saturday night. The Irish failed to get in any rhythm offensively against Pitt, piecemealing together a running game that featured long runs by George Atkinson and TJ Jones, but was otherwise mediocre against Pitt’s undersized front seven.

Brian Kelly talked about the game plan for running the football, a perimeter driven attack as the Irish tried to stay away from Pitt defensive tackle Aaron Donald, and why he chose to give carries to Atkinson instead of Folston.

“There were a couple of times where we felt like George gave us a better opportunity in there because of the kind of runs,” Kelly explained. “We were trying to get the ball on the perimeter. George is a guy that we like when the game is a perimeter game, it fits George’s skill-set, so that’s why you saw him in the game more.”

Atkinson ran for 57 yards on just six carries, breaking a big run around the edge on a quick pitch. But Notre Dame gave nine carries to Cam McDaniel as well, who was completely ineffective with just 22 yards. For those hoping that Folston’s breakout game would rid the Irish from a committee-based approach, it didn’t. Now the Irish head into an off-week trying to answer some tough questions about a ground game that averaged over five yards a carry, but had no identity whatsoever.

For those looking to point fingers at playcalling, especially in the second half, the Irish only ran the ball six times in the game’s final two quarters, gaining a whopping ten yards.

***

With a defense already gutted by injuries, the ejection of Stephon Tuitt was a death-blow to the front seven.

So much for having the starting trio of Stephon Tuitt, Louis Nix and Sheldon Day back together. The group barely lasted a quarter, with the Irish losing Tuitt to ejection after the junior defensive end was flagged for targeting after a helmet-to-helmet collision with Pitt quarterback Tom Savage.

The call was a difficult one to understand, considering Savage dropped the crown of his own helmet as he tried to scramble for a first down. (So was the subsequent replay review, which confirmed the ejection.) But the result was more playing time for unproven reserves like Tyler Stockton, Jarron Jones, and Isaac Rochell, and a Pitt offense that wore out the Irish defense, possessing the ball for over 36 minutes.

The loss of Tuitt forced the Irish into some emergency plans. Linebackers Carlo Calabrese and Romeo Okwara at one point played on the interior of the defensive line in some pass rush looks. But Kelly didn’t lean on the ejection — or the questionable pass interference call against Bennett Jackson (both penalties extended drives that ended in touchdowns) — after the game.

“Stephon Tuitt not playing in the game, that’s not why we lost this football game,” Kelly said. “That is not why we lost this football game. It had nothing to do with this loss tonight.”

***

After peaking each season in November, the Irish’s self-inflicted collapse is all the more confusing.

Brian Kelly has gotten a lot out of his teams in the month of November. Perhaps that’s what makes this loss so difficult to comprehend, with the mediocre play of the Irish coming out of nowhere.

Many will put this loss on the shoulders of Tommy Rees, but the reality is that there’s plenty of blame to spread around. TJ Jones coughed up a football inside the Pitt 10-yard line. Devin Street got loose in the Irish secondary. And after Prince Shembo strip-sacked Tom Savage, multiple Irish defenders watched a football bounce free and fail to capitalize on a game-changing play sitting right in front of them.

Those are mistakes that just haven’t happened in Kelly’s four seasons in South Bend.

“This really was about our football team going on the road and executing poorly on offense and not being good enough when they needed to be on defense,” Kelly said. “Coaches are responsible for getting their players to execute. That’s why we’re hired. That’s what we do. We didn’t get that from our players tonight. I’m responsible for that. That didn’t happen tonight.”

With a week off before Senior Day against BYU, it’ll be interesting to see what tactics Kelly uses with his team. The scenario of fighting their way into the BCS is gone. Injuries have taken this defense to a critical place. And young players should be given every opportunity to challenge underperforming veterans with little but pride on the line.

***

Irish BCS dreams may have fallen dead with a thud tonight, but this senior class will be defined by how they finish the season.

In the ultimate jinx, I wrote about the potential for the Irish to get to eight wins against Pitt, making it four consecutive seasons reaching that threshold, not accomplished since 1993. That eighth win looks a lot more elusive now, with BYU likely challenging a weakened Irish front and Stanford again looking like one of the elite teams in college football.

The Irish bowl options are a mess. They’ll likely need to wait and see how the dust settles, hoping that either the Big Ten or Big 12 leave some vacancies, or else it could be Christmas in Detroit. Add into the scheduling factor final exams, not scheduled to end until December 20. That could provide another wild card in bowl scheduling, Jack Swarbrick hinted to the South Bend Tribune.

(Another wrinkle in all of this is how the early bowl game effects Everett Golson’s return. A January date would’ve given Golson more time with the team after his return, a date rumored to be sometime in early-to-mid-December.)

But bowl discussions can wait. There are still two very important games left for this team, including an emotional final home game for a senior class that’s been through a lot at Notre Dame. After the game, Tommy Rees talked about the importance of turning the page after a bitter loss and preparing for BYU.

“I don’t know how else to say it, it’s a tough feeling,” Rees said after the game. “We’ve got to regroup, we’ve got to come back as a team, and come back for each other.

“We play for each other. We play for our pride. As seniors, we’ve only got a couple games left here. We play for one another, we play for the university, our coaches. We really just rally as a group and get ready to play.”

A BCS bid is no longer an option. But beating BYU and taking a shot at Stanford in Palo Alto should be enough to keep this team together. Unfortunately that’s all that’s left right now, consolation prizes after a disappointing and shocking defeat.

With Notre Dame in need of a rebound against an Arizona State team that looks a lot more dangerous than ever before, let’s run through ten Irish players that need to play well for Notre Dame to win in tonight’s primetime affair.

Tommy Rees. No need to sugarcoat it. (And after reading the comments on recent stories, nobody here has been.) Rees needs to play better to win. Against a Sun Devil defense that might spend 90 percent of its time in man-to-man coverage, the game’s going to be on Rees’s shoulders offensively, even with an emphasis in the running game.

After forgetting about underneath throws against Michigan State, the Irish did have some success on crossing routes against Oklahoma. But Rees will need to be able to connect on some downfield shots to loosen up a Sun Devils defense that isn’t exactly the stingiest group in the country.

Nick Martin. After practicing each week against Louis Nix, Martin will get his chance to face off with an All-American defensive tackle when it actually counts tonight. If Martin can hold up against Will Sutton, the Irish ground game can do some damage both inside and out.

Prince Shembo. Maybe it’s not entirely fair to call Shembo a part of the Witness Protection Program like I did earlier this week, but Shembo has got to start making his presence known in the pass rush department, an area where the Irish are in desperate need of production.

The senior linebacker has been called on to spend more time doing the little things right, like keeping leverage on the edge of the defense. But against a Sun Devil offense that can take big chunks of yardage in a hurry, a few plays made behind the line of scrimmage would do this unit some good.

Shembo is too good of a player to stay off the stat sheet for much longer. On the quick playing surface at Jerry World, I’m expecting the best game of the year for the cat linebacker.

Austin Collinsworth. Brian Kelly and Bob Diaco have a ton of faith in Collinsworth. But it’s time for the senior safety to reward the team with something more than being just consistent. After Harrison Smith and Zeke Motta played outstanding football anchoring the back end of the Irish defense, Collinsworth needs to provide more than just stability in the back end. Making sure the Irish aren’t caught in any broken coverages is mandatory, especially since those looks will surely be exploited by Sun Devils quarterback Taylor Kelly.

The back end of the Irish defense will be under more pressure than they’ve been all season. And while Collinsworth will likely share leadership duties with Matthias Farley, it’s time for the senior to take charge.

George Atkinson. After playing his best game in an Irish uniform, it’s time for Atkinson to do it again, especially against a Sun Devils defense that’s mediocre against the run. After running through arm tackles and making big plays against Oklahoma, the Irish absolutely need Atkinson to do it again, even if there’s a bullseye on his back.

Period.

DaVaris Daniels. If you listened to Brian Kelly this week, you start to get the feeling that this coaching staff desperately wants more out of Daniels. That means more Saturdays like the ones against Temple and Purdue than what’s happened the past two weeks, when Daniels has been shut down in man coverage for a combined four catches for 19 yards.

Kelly and Chuck Martin believe that Daniels can be the big play downfield receiver that the Irish count on. But that means Daniels needs to win the one-on-one battles, something he hasn’t done the past two weeks. Cornerback Osahon Irabor is one of the Sun Devils most experienced players. Starting across from him is Robert Nelson, another fifth-year senior. That’s a lot of experience, but it’s time for Daniels to produce against top shelf opponents. He did so against Alabama in the BCS title game, so the talent is there. Now he’s got to show the consistency.

Jarrett Grace. The junior linebacker has made his move into the starting lineup. Now he needs to play better in the pass game, where he’ll be challenging this evening by a speedy fleet of Sun Devil receivers.

Kelly talked about the slant play that got inside Grace on a critical third down that went for 56-yards and a touchdown. That can’t happen tonight if the Irish want to win.

Stephon Tuitt. With Sheldon Day still likely limited, Tuitt’s going to play a lot of minutes tonight. And he’s going to need to play dominant up front in helping to limit the Sun Devil’s run game. Tuitt has slowly improved since a slow start from his hernia surgery recovery. And while his good snaps have been good, his bad snaps haven’t looked the part of a future first rounder.

With all five starters on the Sun Devil offensive line upperclassmen, it’s going to be a good battle up front. And Tuitt is going to have to carry the load, because the drop off after Day and Schwenke is sizable.

Bennett Jackson. It’s been an up and down season for the Irish captain. And he’ll be challenged again tonight, with Arizona State pushing the football down the field and the tempo between plays.

Someone needs to help this defense recapture the swagger and confidence it had last season. Jackson is the one wearing the ‘C’ on his jersey, and that duty ultimately falls on him. But until he can gets his game in order, it’s tough for that moxie to wear off on his teammates.

TJ Jones. The senior receiver has the opportunity to steal the spotlight from the Sun Devil offense with a breakout performance tonight. Whether it’s a big play in the return game, breaking a screen pass for a big gain, or connecting on a long throw down the field, Jones needs to be the best player on the field for the Irish offense.

After 15 catches in the season’s first two games, Jones has only had ten grabs in the last three for just 114 yards. Those are the type of numbers he should put up tonight, especially if the Irish run game gives Jones a chance to be a weapon in the playaction passing game.